January
5th 2010 | Source: Posted By BRENDAN WEDLEY , EXAMINER |
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A study on how to operate commuter rail service between
Peterborough and Toronto should be complete by the end of the
month, Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal says.

Metrolinx, the provincial agency responsible for completing the
study, is putting together the final version of the report then
the document will go to Transport Canada for a peer review, Leal
said yesterday.

The introduction of GO Transit bus service between Peterborough
and the Oshawa rail station last year was a good first step,
Leal said.

"It's important for Peterborough to be part of that system," he
said.

A Peterborough Rotary Club member asked Mayor Paul Ayotte for an
update on the implementation of commuter rail service to
Peterborough during a lunch meeting.

"Jeff Leal gave me a heads up before Christmas that there would
be an announcement shortly," Ayotte said.

Metrolinx is being more vague about when the study will be
complete and when it will be available to the public.

The agency will give the study to the provincial and federal
transportation ministers in winter 2010, states John Howe,
Metrolinx vice-president of investment strategy and project
evaluation.

"Our federal and provincial partners will decide whether the
study will be released to the public," he states in an email
provided by a GO Transit spokeswoman yesterday.

The Peterborough commuter rail study needs to be a thoughtful
and careful process, Howe states.

Metrolinx is in the process of finalizing the report to ensure
this study is accurate, complete and thorough, he states.

Ontario and the federal Conservative government committed as
much as $150 million each in the Building Canada Fund agreement
towards the Peterborough commuter rail line in July 2008 --
contingent on the results of the Metrolinx study.

The Building Canada agreement the provincial and federal
governments signed in July 2008 states the parties "agree to
make best efforts to complete the study within one year."

Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro said in August 2008 that the
report was due by March 31, 2009.

In December 2008, Del Mastro said the study should be done by
the end of April 2009 or sooner.

Howe said in April last year that Metrolinx was targeting for a
fall 2009 completion.

"We are in the very last stages of finalizing the report to
ensure accuracy and completeness," Jacquie Menezes states. "We
expect to be ready to submit the final report to our federal and
provincial partners in the next few weeks."